I gasped as I felt my heart stopping at the touch of those unknown fingers wrapped around my skin. I let the air sink in inside my chest and kept it there, fear taking over me.
"Where do you think you're going?"
My lungs could breathe again as the dread vanished from my veins. I knew that voice. It belonged to Luke.
Once I realized the stranger was, after all, Luke himself, there was no way I could go back to being sweet. My body turned around, my teeth gritted at him and, leaving no doubt of how frustrated and angry I was, I sharply released my arm from his gentle grip. "Don't touch me."
Silence fell upon our heads, blue and brown eyes connected by what felt like electricity.
Despite the darkness of the night hampered my field of view, the moonlight irradiated across Luke's features, shadowing his nose and defined jawline, intensifying the blue on his irises and the paleness on his cheeks.
In that moment, he seemed to me a masterpiece.
"I'm sorry." His voice broke the sounds of nature playing in the background and also my thoughts. Taking one step forward, Luke shortened the space between our bodies. "I'm sorry."
My eyes never left his as tips of fingers reached for my wrist, however this touch was not new or unusual; instead, it was warm and familiar, just like home. My chest was rising and falling at the speed of sound and it was completely useless to try to stop it. The air flew in and out of my lungs so superficially it soon became shallow. I couldn't hide what he did to me, what he made me do, how my body reacted when I was near him. I couldn't deny it and Luke couldn't either.
"Come on, let's go back." He half-smiled, his tone tender as I nod.
Luke's hand pushed gently by mine as we started walking on the same path back to the steam. None of us said anything except for Luke, who casually warned me about fallen branches I could stumble on or taking careful steps on a certain area. We finally managed to get there and everything looked the same, yet darker.
I sat down against the fresh grass, folding my knees and bringing them to touch my chest, the same position I had been sat on when we first had gotten here; Luke stood right beside me but instead his legs and back were stretched along the ground, in a relaxing position. The palms of his hands hid behind his nape, creating an interruption between the grass and the back of his head.
We both shared the same silence for a brief moment, only enjoying the sound of the water running towards its dead end, the wind blowing through the leaves hang on the trees and amiably slapping our cheeks, when Luke decided it was time to loosen that curtain.
"Did you think I wouldn't go after you?"
I turned to face him, an eyebrow furrowed.
"Well..." I shrugged. "I honestly was so pissed that I didn't even think about it, I just wanted to get as far away from you as I could."
Luke took a splayed hand onto his chest. "Ouch, that hurt!" He cried, amusingly.
I couldn't avoid to let go a chuckle. "If you hadn't been such a jerk I wouldn't have said it in the first place."
"You wouldn't shut the fuck up!" His tone showed off an incredulous, yet witty Luke, in spite of the rudeness present on his words. "How was I supposed to enjoy the walk with you always opening your mouth so say something?"
"You see?" I an accusing finger at him. "You're doing in again!"
Luke threw his hands in the air in a perplexed attitude which caused him to sit normally. "Doing what?"
"Being rude!" My voice was already so high pitched that I was afraid to break a vocal cord if I tried to increase my decibles. "You're always being rude!"
We stared at each other, our astonished mouths evidencing that we both were undeniably restless with that conversation. After seconds of pure silence, something int he pit of my stomach crawled up inside me and reached the back of my mouth, causing me to laugh.
I laughed, I laughed with such genuineness that I had to embrace my hurting belly and bend forward, hiding my head inbetween my knees, unable to breathe properly.
Luke's eyes were clouted on my silhouette, I could feel them, probably wondering what had gotten into me.
When the laughter finally ceased, I hardly caught my breath and Luke carefully - for the first time since we had been together that day - asked if I was okay and what was it that had made me laugh so much.
"It's just" I paused, soaking up a tear hang in the outer corner of my eye with a finger. "Do you ever realise we cannot have a proper conversation without arguing?"
Luke cocked his blonde eyebrow. "I guess we're not made for each other after all."
I froze. What did he even mean with that? Was he talking romantically? Was he rejecting any kind of serious relationship that could flourish from our current one? If that was the case, somehow I was finding it very disappointing.
My eyes deviated from his, focusing on the silver water flowing in front of them.
"Yeah, we're definitely not made for each other."
And before I could realise, I was overthinking. My mind was creating schemes inside, inquiring questions and searching for their answers, organizing random thoughts, undressing protencial signs... What if Luke didn't like me as much as I thought before? What if I liked him more than I thought I did? What if he was right, what if we were not meant to be together, even just as friends?
"Try one."
Luke's harsh voice - gladly - interrupted my overthinking and as I looked at him his hand was holding a cigarette.
I stared at the paper tube, thoughtfully. "This is a cigarette, Luke."
He chuckled. "Obviously, what else would it be?"
"Well, I don't smoke." I said, looking right back at him.
He gave me a challenging smile. "That doesn't mean you can't try it anyway, does it?"
My eyes flew once again to fix on the cigarette. I knew it was wrong and I knew the consequences of smoking; the substances on it could destroy the lung tissues and increase the chances of developing cancer, which meant, in smoother words, lessen and harden your lifetime or kill you - or perhaps both. However, just a try would not put myself in danger, would it?
My fingers reached for it, hesitantly, and held it between my index and middle finger.
"So" Luke began, gesturing to exemplify. "You suck in the tip and lock your throat when the smoke fills your mouth, alright? And then you let it out. Simple as that."
Putting the end of the cigarette among my upper and bottom lip, Luke sat closer to me as he approached the flame of the lighter to the tip and I gently sucked in.
The smoke invaded my mouth, burning every inch of my tongue, igniting a fire on the back of my throat. All of it felt like someone had set my neck on fire and my eyes as well, which were watering due to the invisible flame they were upon.
As obvious, and actually predictable, I choked and started to cough endlessly, all my muscles and mouth tissues hurting, which forced an amused Luke to rest his hands on my shoulders and help me catch my breath. Once I did, my lungs filled with air, very slowly, and expelled it in the same way - I repeated the process until I was feeling healthy again.
"This is disgusting." I whispered between teeth. "How can you even do that? Don't you feel all your insides burning?"
Luke's lips widened in a giggle. "It's the habit."
"Still disgusting." I said, making a grimace at my unfinished cigarette. Luke released it from my hold and placed it on his instead, wrapping his lips around its tip and tranfering the grey smoke to his mouth.
I watched him as he tilted his head back, his eyes closed, blowing the fume through the gap of his pink lips, delight spread all over his face. These were the kind of moments, the spontaneous, unexpected, born from the human nature kind of Luke moments I would kill to have an oil painting of.
"Stop staring at me."
I rolled my eyes. Did he have a hidden eye or something? "Stop flattering yourself, I was watching you smoking, not staring at you."
"Isn't it the same for you?" Looking away, Luke shot me a close-lipped smile which seriously made me wish to punch his presumption away.
Instead I took a deep breath. Obviously I would never do that and obsviously Luke would be faster and intercept me.
Since the second I had recieved that text from him, the one he had sent several hours ago, the one who had made me jump out of bed and look outside the window: just to see Luke standing there, his back on his moto, his arms folded across his chest, clothed in all black. Why did he drive there? What reason had he to pick me up that late at night and take me to this beautiful place? Just me and him? Why bother?
"Why-" I started as I glared at him, still hesitant. "Why did you bring me here?"
This was it. This was the moment. I could hear his skin cracking as he fought against himself, trying not to let his guard down, expose his feelings, uncover who he really was behind that mask he wouldn't remove. Perhaps, in this second, he would offer me a honest answer.
He shrugged, indiferent. "I was bored."
Pressing my lips against one another in attempt to avoid the explosion of questions that was threatening to blow out of my mouth, I breathed in and out, very discreetly. "Well, I guess you have a lot more interesting girls to have fun with when you're bored."
If gazing casted out the truth out of people, I'd know the answer by now.
I waited him. Nothing but silence.
"Come on." Luke said, throwing his cigarette somewhere into the woods as he stood up. "We're leaving."
No. No, we can't, not right now.
My mouth fell open. "What, why?" He was already vanishing into the dark green when I stood on my feet, confused and disappointed with Luke; also with myself, if at any moment I'd offended him. "Luke, stop!"
And he did so. He stopped, his back turned to me.
"Why do you keep doing this?" My voice was filled with tiredness and eager. "I just want you to be honest with me or is it too much to ask for?"
My muscles relaxed, going back to their normal state, as if I had just lifted a heavy burden above my shoulders. My lungs could breathe after the air had been, one more time, rejected from me.
"Why do you keep running away when I'm trying to reach you?"
Luke took me by surprise and, in slow motion, his eyes faced mine.
"Because" He said. "I don't want you to."
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OH MY GAWWDDDDDDD
It's here it's finally hre and PLS DON'T KILL ME OKAY.
I'm really excited and looking forward to the next chapters because things will start to warm up, not just between Sky and Luke, but also with Luke himself. You will know much more about his past and why he is the way he is, why he acts the way he atcs, why he does the things he does... Maybe there's a chance that Sky will discover all of that too?
Anyways, I hope you enjoyed the chapter and don't forget to vote and comment, they motivate and inspire me!
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